Longboard, I'm still finishing the supports but there is a chance I may hang the ceiling tomorrow (Wednesday). I need two other guys to help me since the width of the reed I'm using is 6 feet wide. It will be two sections. The room is 12 feet by 17 feet. I will use two strips running down each section and one strip covering the seem between the two. If I don't hang it Wednesday it will be next week.

The concept I'm using is from Monkeyman's "South Pacific Room." Here is the page that shows how he did it.

One of the things I did was mix some Cherry Wood stain with Golden Oak stain. I did red spots to make the wood look a little more exotic than just a plain piece of Golden Oak.

If you look at Monkeyman's ceiling he overlapped the reed and used either 3 or 4 ft width sections.

Monkeyman has been extremely helpful in sharing his expertise.

This forum has been fantastic for gaining tips and ideas for tiki bar build outs. I have to thank Bamboo Ben for a post he did explain that scissors work best for cutting Lauhala matting. I saw where some people tried to use a razor blade with a straight edge, The scissors worked great.

_________________
"People are like islands. You have to get close to them to know what they are about."
~ Adam Troy

I found the easiest way to get the reed fence to the ceiling was to first find the joist with a stud finder. I then predrilled the holes and attached the beams to the ceiling.

I then laid the beams on the floor with the screws attached and sticking up. I then laid the reed fence on top of the beams. With two people lifting the beams, with the fence on top, a third person screwed the beams to the ceiling.

Next a little paint on the old vents.

The holes cut,

Where the two fences came together I had to do some trimming before I could put up the center beam.

Next I added a new spot and reinstalled the existing one.

Here is the new ceiling:

_________________"People are like islands. You have to get close to them to know what they are about."
~ Adam Troy